Starting today (February 15, 2018) through next week, I’m taking over the Instagram account of The Photo Ladies. I’m posting some of my favorite images I’ve taken over the years, such as this photo of Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs from 2006 and you can keep up with my updates on Instagram for the next seven days here.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018, the "Daytrippin' to Chapel Perilous" tour featuring milo, ELUCID, and JPEGMAFIA came to Drom in New York, NY for a sold out show. Photos of all three acts appear in the gallery above.

On Friday, February 9, 2018, Acme Smoked Fish and Zucker's Bagels teamed up to create the world's largest Bagel & Lox sandwich. Why was this done? Well, it was National Bagel Day and they wanted their attempt to win the Guinness World Record. The completed bagel, which had 40 pounds of cream cheese, 30 pounds of smoked salmon, plus additional layers of tomatoes, onions, and capers came to an impressive 213.75 pounds. Once it was weighed and cut with a saw, it was given away to those who came to support the attempt.

I attended the afternoon event on Friday and a few images from the event appear in the gallery above.

On Friday, January 26, Snail Mail, Lomelda and Fits performed at Brooklyn Bazaar. The show was sold out and marked the Snail Mail's first headlining NYC show. A pretty impressive feat considering that Lindsey Jordan opened for Priests on the same stage a year before.

The above live photo of Harsh Crowd that I took during their set at Irving Plaza in November 2016 ran with an article in inc. called "What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From These Teenage Indie Rockers." Harsh Crowd formed in 2013 at Willie Mae Rock Camp in Brooklyn, and their music is available on Bandcamp page.

The defunct Brooklyn band, Household, was featured in an essay by writer Loren DiBlasi. One of my live Household images (from their performance at Glasslands Gallery with Ex Hex) was selected as the main image to run with the piece.

The article called "A Room Of One's Own: How Household's 'Items' Confronts The Limits Of Domesticity" is now available on NPR here.

I saw Household a few times during their run but only managed to photograph them twice (I can think of at least two other Death By Audio sets of theirs I saw plus a performance at a museum) and more of my images of the band can be found on Flickr here.

For more of my favorite photos taken in 2017, portraits are available in this gallery.

And in case you're curious, here are 10 albums released this year that I really enjoyed/listened to quite often:Chastity Belt, I Used To Spend So Much Time Alone (Hardly Art; released June 2017)Downtown Boys, Cost of Living (Sub Pop; released August 2017)Japanese Breakfast, Soft Sounds from Another Planet (Dead Oceans; released July 2017)Melkbelly, Nothing Valley (Wax Nine; released October 2017)milo, who told you to think??!!?!?!?! (Ruby Yacht; released August 2017)Open Mike Eagle, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream (Mello Music Group; released September 2017)Priests, Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon; released January 2017)Protomartyr, Relatives in Descent (Domino; released September 2017)Sneaks, It’s a Myth (Merge; released March 2017)Vagabon, Infinite Worlds (Father/Daughter Records; released February 2017)

2017 was a weird year. I took an unexpected hiatus from photography (thanks to a broken tibia and ankle surgery). As this year comes to an end, I've selected my favorite portraits taken throughout 2017 (there's nothing from mid-March to late May because I was in a cast and couldn't bear any weight on my right leg) in the gallery above which features Japanese Breakfast, Chastity Belt, Cindy Wilson, Heems, Milo, Melkbelly, the team behind Shea Stadium, and others.

A giant thank you to everyone for their time and for letting lil ol' me to take portraits of them this year. I am beyond grateful to you.

On Wednesday, December 13, 2017, Death Match 7 took place at Tender Trap in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. There were live sets from Butthole University and Tight Fright, and two wrestling matches (without a ring) that featured Zack Sabre Jr. versus the Kentucky Gentleman, Chuck Taylor, and a death match fight with Casanova Valentine against Matt "The Bulldozer" Tremont. The second match featured the use of wooden boards, light tubes, a stapler, a grater, folding chair, and thumbtacks. There was also blood, of course.

Photos from the event appear in the gallery above and I removed a grand total of five thumbtacks from my sneakers last night.

On Sunday, December 3, 2017, Zone One at Elsewhere hosted three great NYC bands: YVETTE, Eaters, and Parlor Walls.

This was my first time seeing Parlor Walls live after the release of their newest record, Opposites, which came out on Northern Spy Records back in March. The last time I saw Eaters live was in May 2013 at Death by Audio (RIP). And the headliner, YVETTE, I saw most recently in September with Liars.

I captured all three bands' sets for the gallery above. The lighting (well, lack of it) made shooting a little difficult during Parlor Walls and Eater and I was glad I wasn't on assignment and just photographing this great show for myself.

2017 NPR Tiny Desk winners, Tank and the Bangas, went on a US tour over the summer and I participated in a tour diary for The Photo Ladies by covering their June 25th performance at Rumsey Playfield as a part of the annual SummerStage concert series. Different photographers in various cities documented the New Orleans band during their tour and the results are now live here.

Hot Snakes toured nine cities in the United States in November (including Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, November 16th), with the final scheduled for Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at Underground Arts. The formerly defunct band, who will release a new record next year, was joined by Duchess Says of Montreal, Canada and Pile of Boston, Massachusetts. The show fell on the day where Malcolm Young of AC/DC died so the venue played AC/DC in between sets and John Reis declared that he was now the greatest living rock guitarist after Young's death. I photographed all three acts for the gallery which appears above.

In mid-August, Hot Snakes surprised fans by announcing they are releasing a new record in the spring of 2018 on Sub Pop Records. During that announcement, they revealed a nine city US tour that would occur in November. Last night, the reunited band played at The Bell House (their first time there since December 2011) with SAVAK and The Piggies.

I covered the show for Brooklyn Vegan and the full gallery is now available here.

On Saturday, November 11, 2017, Vancouver's Humans performed at Zone One at Elsewhere. The venue Elsewhere had their first show on Halloween and this was my first time checking out the new space.

Brooklyn's Courtship Ritual opened the show by taking the Zone One stage at 8PM. The duo of Monica Salazar and Jared Olmstead recently released their EP called Chary. The above gallery features images from Humans and Courtship Ritual's live sets plus portraits of Courtship Ritual taken backstage.

On Monday, November 6th, tUnE-yArDs announced a last minute show that would take place the very next night at Baby's All Right, a venue with a capacity of 280 people. The band previewed songs from their upcoming release, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, which will be released on January 19, 2018.

Brooklyn rapper Miss Eaves opened the show and was wrapping up her string of tour dates with tUnE-yArDs. I was lucky enough to see Eaves perform at Muchmore's in the past (her record release show for Black Valley was held there) and it was wonderful to see her play for a crowded room with people who were unfamiliar with her smart, feminist, and funny rap songs and experiencing them for the first time.

This was my second time seeing Merrill Garbus' band live (I attended their Webster Hall show three years ago) and I was thankful to catch them in a much more intimate setting. Garbus remarked they were getting the kinks out of their new material but it sounded as if all rough edges were smoothed out before this performance.

I photographed both bands for the above gallery. If you missed the sold out Baby's All Right show, don't fret because tUnE-yArDs will return to Brooklyn in March for a show at a much larger venue, Brooklyn Steel.